When was the moment you realised Covid was serious?

[Bit of hope]

Tears are running down my cheeks.
Many milestones have occurred to all of us during the pandemic: births, deaths, weddings, etc. Even though we’re still in the midst of the pandemic, we continue to support each other. I have also been able to see the beauty around me. I hug my grandkids harder and longer.

Oh...this really touched me. Yes...totally recognizable....there is soooo much beauty, that was, is and will remain...we will get through this. ((((hug)))

 

[TGIRecovered]

For me, it was March 11th when the schools closed in Louisiana and my husband and I became “teachers” to our 2 primary school grandkids and a toddler. I knew we were in the throes of it. We struggled to learn zoom. I could see the fear in my daughter's eyes. She’s Nicu NP and her husband is an ER nurse. Thankfully, now we're vaccinated.

A huge thank you to your daughter and son-in law for working on the front lines during COVID!
I am a grandparent, and it warms my heart to see other gp's stepping up to learn Zoom for the kiddos. Thank God you could be there so the parents could keep working! One of my daughters is also a NICU nurse.

I have always avoided Facetime or Zoom because I don't like seeing how much older I look than how I feel. I am in nursing school and I had to get over my Zoom aversion just to go to classes!

 

[LaborDayRN]

A huge thank you to your daughter and son-in law for working on the front lines during COVID!
I am a grandparent, and it warms my heart to see other gp's stepping up to learn Zoom for the kiddos. Thank God you could be there so the parents could keep working! One of my daughters is also a NICU nurse.

I have always avoided Facetime or Zoom because I don't like seeing how much older I look than how I feel. I am in nursing school and I had to get over my Zoom aversion just to go to classes!

And THANK YOU for going to nursing school during such a difficult time. It's a very rewarding career and for me it was a calling. I was working during the beginning of Covid but retired in January of this year. Nurses are needed now more than ever! There just aren't enough to go around it seems.
BTW I graduated at 45 and I wasn't the oldest in my class.

 

[Wild Rose]

I remember worrying that we wouldn't have food, like when you watch the TV show SURVIVOR. I was so worried about cashiers at the stores, I thought they were so BRAVE knowing that they usually work for such lower wages. So we could all eat and not starve.

 

[Grouse]

I’ve just read a similar thread elsewhere, and it’s amazing how different peoples experiences were of that “oh crap” moment.

Personally, I think in hindsight I was a bit slow on the uptake, call it optimism / denial / whatever. For me it was when rumours began about schools closing, and Boris did a very serious (and uncharacteristically statesmanlike!) address to our nation. I cried on and off for days. Felt anxiety like I’d never felt before.

So, where were you and what happened the moment you realised this was going to have a massive impact on our world?

It was the first week in March for me, when I went down with the worst chest infection I've ever had in my life (and I'm no spring chicken). It started while away on holiday, so had been in some fairly crowded places, and wondered if I'd caught it. Antibiotics cleared it up fine, but that feeling of dread stayed with me for quite a long time.

 

[ButForFortune]

I knew something very threatening was coming our way when news outlets were reporting and providing satellite images showing China was rapidly building field hospitals and there was no explanation out of China as to why. This was very early (IIRC around New Years Eve) - long before Covid was in the mainstream news here and the March shutdown.

 

[Tony1902]

Amonet: who started the big thread.

My son had been in the hospital after working for a defense contractor on various Navy craft. I had a sore throat like crushed Louisiana clam shells in my throat, trying to drink mineral water. Very low fever, I run below 98.6 so this never got above 99. My hubs who is a physician, was working locum in another state. He called in for an antibiotic & said if it’s not over in 7 days it’s probably a virus. Then I remembered where & when I had been. I live in a medium sized town in coastal Louisiana. And I called my son in Virginia & that was the ‘aha’ moment. When I (thanks Foxfire’ I collected the dots & Amonets post connected them for me. I firmly believe JMO iwas here before it crashed into the news. Merci Amonet.

 

[155etta]

I remember worrying that we wouldn't have food, like when you watch the TV show SURVIVOR. I was so worried about cashiers at the stores, I thought they were so BRAVE knowing that they usually work for such lower wages. So we could all eat and not starve.

Yes! In the early days of the pandemic, I bought the cashier at Walmart that was checking me out a gift card and she said that she was not allowed to accept it so I gave it to the gentleman behind me in line. And thanked her anyway.

 

[155etta]

A huge thank you to your daughter and son-in law for working on the front lines during COVID!
I am a grandparent, and it warms my heart to see other gp's stepping up to learn Zoom for the kiddos. Thank God you could be there so the parents could keep working! One of my daughters is also a NICU nurse.

I have always avoided Facetime or Zoom because I don't like seeing how much older I look than how I feel. I am in nursing school and I had to get over my Zoom aversion just to go to classes!

I applaud you! I got my cna and became med certified years ago and wanted to continue on, but life and kids happened. I always thought I would go back to school when my kids were grown but my youngest is special needs and will be with us always, so I'm walking a different path now. Still utilizing my certifications though!

 

[Teche]

I am a carer and I remember being on a night shift in February and reading the China virus thread here. I didn’t feel too concerned but spent that night ordering extra PPE and meds and cleaning products.

I care for a wonderful young man with cerebral palsy, he’s CEV due to breathing difficulties already and relies on 2/3 carers 24 hours a day. I took him for his yearly health check in March 2020.
When we got to the surgery there were signs up saying not to enter if we had recently returned from China.

Inside we were shocked to see the receptionists wearing masks and there was a scary atmosphere in there, the usually friendly chatty receptionists seemed quiet and serious.

The man I look after is non verbal and I’ll never forget the fear in his eyes I think we both sensed it was serious then, we had no idea of how terrible the next year would be.

I have said this before on the covid thread but I am so grateful for the advice I got here from fellow posters about items to stock up on.
During the whole pandemic we never ran out of PPE and medication because of the orders I placed on that night shift.

The last 18 months have been difficult, I made the decision to continue working but this meant my partner had to give up his job, I couldn’t go anywhere apart from work in order to guarantee I wouldn’t take covid into work. My step children couldn’t come and stay with us unless I isolated for 2 weeks before returning to work.

I was at work when we first heard they had found a vaccine and we cried. As carers we were all called for the vaccine before the man we look after. I felt so guilty getting it before him. His sister went for her vaccine one evening and she cried and begged the staff and they agreed to give him the vaccine if he came straight away. We rushed him to Boston in his pyjamas and he was vaccinated! We cried tears of relief that night, that was the first time we began to feel hopeful of him getting some parts of his life back.

I have been extremely fortunate to have avoided covid so far, I’m in rural Lincolnshire and only recently have our cases been high. I know lots of people who have covid or are isolating right now.

You are a true angel to the young man you provide care. You’ve made many sacrifices. My young adult nephew needs 24 hr. care due to cerebral palsy. He remains at home and his nurses have not be a careful as you. Due to Covid, my sister-in-law only allows 1 nurse to assist.

 

[Teche]

I had been reading at WS for some time but I did not want to think this could come across country so quickly….. but on Mardi Gras Day, 2020……I turned on the tv and saw perhaps a million visitors in the New Orleans area…. I was sick. Am a retired nurse…and I knew we were in for trouble. Went to grocery to pick up supplies like we do for hurricanes, and there was a couple….an
MD and his wife who were using gloves and a mask. It was a real eye opener. Would love to thank all of you at WS for all you have done to keep us informed. Hugs, Lato

You must be from Louisiana. I’m from the Acadiana region and we hurricane prep.

 

[Lato]

Hi Teche…..born and raised here…..educated in Nursing and worked at local hospitals. Have huge family in Acadiana as well as greater N.O area.
Thanks for your medical family that gives so much. Hugs, Lato

ps…the masks are back out. The state is adding 4000+ new cases
each day. My friends are exhausted.

 

[Teche]

A huge thank you to your daughter and son-in law for working on the front lines during COVID!
I am a grandparent, and it warms my heart to see other gp's stepping up to learn Zoom for the kiddos. Thank God you could be there so the parents could keep working! One of my daughters is also a NICU nurse.

I have always avoided Facetime or Zoom because I don't like seeing how much older I look than how I feel. I am in nursing school and I had to get over my Zoom aversion just to go to classes!

Thanks! I would do it again in a heartbeat. We are fortunate to be retired and live a couple of houses down. The time we spent with our grandkids is priceless. My daughter was exposed to COVID at work and in turn infected her husband and kids. Thankfully, they recovered and had no longterm problems. While they were in quarantine, we’d bring meals and visit the grandkids at the window. Those were hard days.

 

[Teche]

Amonet: who started the big thread.

My son had been in the hospital after working for a defense contractor on various Navy craft. I had a sore throat like crushed Louisiana clam shells in my throat, trying to drink mineral water. Very low fever, I run below 98.6 so this never got above 99. My hubs who is a physician, was working locum in another state. He called in for an antibiotic & said if it’s not over in 7 days it’s probably a virus. Then I remembered where & when I had been. I live in a medium sized town in coastal Louisiana. And I called my son in Virginia & that was the ‘aha’ moment. When I (thanks Foxfire’ I collected the dots & Amonets post connected them for me. I firmly believe JMO iwas here before it crashed into the news. Merci Amonet.

I’m from the bayou state and can relate to your description of the crushed clam shells.

 

[Teche]

Hi Teche…..born and raised here…..educated in Nursing and worked at local hospitals. Have huge family in Acadiana as well as greater N.O area.
Thanks for your medical family that gives so much. Hugs, Lato

ps…the masks are back out. The state is adding 4000+ new cases
each day. My friends are exhausted.

Mais cher, it’s crazy here. I’m fully vaccinated and never gave up masking since March 2020. But I sure miss Mardi Gras masks.

 

[Lilibet]

I was aware of what was going on in China and I saw, but didn’t read, the main thread until late February. My first post was Feb 26 on thread #7, as follows…

“Just popping by to say thanks to all for being here.

WS is my go-to place for news gathered from all over during any event.

We are making sure our emergency kits are updated and will be gradually stocking up on staples. Thanks to a couple of summers of wildfire smoke here in southern Oregon, we do have a small supply of N-95 masks. Without panicking, I think we have to prepare for the worst while we hope for the best. IMO it’s foolhardy to do nothing and hope the government will take care of us in any emergency. And of course, we want to be there for our more vulnerable friends and neighbors who are unable to prepare. We are in our 70’s but in good health, so here’s hoping our immune systems will be up to whatever challenge comes our way.

This is going to be a bumpy ride, folks. Hang in there.”
BBM

Boy, that was prophetic. It feels even bumpier now!

Coronavirus COVID-19 *Global Health Emergency* #7

My day planner tells me that I started canceling appointments right away, stopped gathering with my congregation in early March shortly before we shut down and went to zoom where we remain, shopped for food and supplies March 7, had my last haircut for a year on March 10, and on March 13 did my last errands for groceries and prescriptions. We started using Freshly (meals) instead of eating out and Instacart for groceries and the drive-thru to pick up meds. We wiped down everything with alcohol. A friend made us cloth masks. Other than a couple of in-person appointments for shots, I’ve used telemed for my doctors.

Between my last doctor appointment November 3 and my Covid symptoms starting January 23, 2021 I did not leave our apartment, but it found me anyway (my husband ran a rare errand and apparently brought it home somehow). I had purchased a pulse oximeter in June 2020 thanks to Websleuths, and it helped us know when it was time to get help. I ended up in the hospital on oxygen for six days. Fortunately, my husband wasn’t as sick, but felt lousy.

I’ve attended two weddings and a funeral (not Covid-related) on zoom. Despite being vaccinated, all the info I have gotten on the main thread has made us decide to return to our personal lockdown in hopes that the Delta variant doesn’t find us. So we’re back where we started in March 2020, but hoping our Pfizer vaccine gets us through this. Websleuths is my Covid lifeline!

 

[anneg]

I was aware of what was going on in China and I saw, but didn’t read, the main thread until late February. My first post was Feb 26 on thread #7, as follows…

“Just popping by to say thanks to all for being here.

WS is my go-to place for news gathered from all over during any event.

We are making sure our emergency kits are updated and will be gradually stocking up on staples. Thanks to a couple of summers of wildfire smoke here in southern Oregon, we do have a small supply of N-95 masks. Without panicking, I think we have to prepare for the worst while we hope for the best. IMO it’s foolhardy to do nothing and hope the government will take care of us in any emergency. And of course, we want to be there for our more vulnerable friends and neighbors who are unable to prepare. We are in our 70’s but in good health, so here’s hoping our immune systems will be up to whatever challenge comes our way.

This is going to be a bumpy ride, folks. Hang in there.”
BBM

Boy, that was prophetic. It feels even bumpier now!

Coronavirus COVID-19 *Global Health Emergency* #7

My day planner tells me that I started canceling appointments right away, stopped gathering with my congregation in early March shortly before we shut down and went to zoom where we remain, shopped for food and supplies March 7, had my last haircut for a year on March 10, and on March 13 did my last errands for groceries and prescriptions. We started using Freshly (meals) instead of eating out and Instacart for groceries and the drive-thru to pick up meds. We wiped down everything with alcohol. A friend made us cloth masks. Other than a couple of in-person appointments for shots, I’ve used telemed for my doctors.

Between my last doctor appointment November 3 and my Covid symptoms starting January 23, 2021 I did not leave our apartment, but it found me anyway (my husband ran a rare errand and apparently brought it home somehow). I had purchased a pulse oximeter in June 2020 thanks to Websleuths, and it helped us know when it was time to get help. I ended up in the hospital on oxygen for six days. Fortunately, my husband wasn’t as sick, but felt lousy.

I’ve attended two weddings and a funeral (not Covid-related) on zoom. Despite being vaccinated, all the info I have gotten on the main thread has made us decide to return to our personal lockdown in hopes that the Delta variant doesn’t find us. So we’re back where we started in March 2020, but hoping our Pfizer vaccine gets us through this. Websleuths is my Covid lifeline!

Thanks for posting your personal Covid journey! WS has been my Covid lifeline, too (more like an obsession ), and there are similarities in our timelines. Plus we're in our 70s like you.

March 13, 2020, was my last day of shopping and running errands also, before our state's lockdown. I was in an anxious state, and even though I knew I shouldn't, I kept touching my eyes and nose to rub crazy itches. I ended up with pinkeye--first time in my life. At least it wasn't Covid. I sent photos of my eye to my doctor through MyChart and got a prescription that cleared it up.

We canceled appointments and started using curbside grocery pickup around then too. I still haven't had a haircut in more than a year and a half...I just keep cutting it myself with varying results, but my hair is short and wavy and pretty forgiving.

We found a few N95 masks in DH's woodworking supplies and used them even though they had expired (the elastic bands broke on one). And a friend kindly made us cloth masks and mailed them to us.

We were vaccinated in mid January and early February. So far we have managed to avoid Covid and are doing our best to continue doing so. If we are offered a booster shot, we will take it!

 

[Snoopster]

I am a carer and I remember being on a night shift in February and reading the China virus thread here. I didn’t feel too concerned but spent that night ordering extra PPE and meds and cleaning products.

I care for a wonderful young man with cerebral palsy, he’s CEV due to breathing difficulties already and relies on 2/3 carers 24 hours a day. I took him for his yearly health check in March 2020.
When we got to the surgery there were signs up saying not to enter if we had recently returned from China.

Inside we were shocked to see the receptionists wearing masks and there was a scary atmosphere in there, the usually friendly chatty receptionists seemed quiet and serious.

The man I look after is non verbal and I’ll never forget the fear in his eyes I think we both sensed it was serious then, we had no idea of how terrible the next year would be.

I have said this before on the covid thread but I am so grateful for the advice I got here from fellow posters about items to stock up on.
During the whole pandemic we never ran out of PPE and medication because of the orders I placed on that night shift.

The last 18 months have been difficult, I made the decision to continue working but this meant my partner had to give up his job, I couldn’t go anywhere apart from work in order to guarantee I wouldn’t take covid into work. My step children couldn’t come and stay with us unless I isolated for 2 weeks before returning to work.

I was at work when we first heard they had found a vaccine and we cried. As carers we were all called for the vaccine before the man we look after. I felt so guilty getting it before him. His sister went for her vaccine one evening and she cried and begged the staff and they agreed to give him the vaccine if he came straight away. We rushed him to Boston in his pyjamas and he was vaccinated! We cried tears of relief that night, that was the first time we began to feel hopeful of him getting some parts of his life back.

I have been extremely fortunate to have avoided covid so far, I’m in rural Lincolnshire and only recently have our cases been high. I know lots of people who have covid or are isolating right now.

Thank you for what you do and the sacrifices you made. You sound like an absolutely loving, caring person.
<hugs>

 

[Shelby1]

We celebrated Christmas with my in-laws the Saturday after Christmas Day 2019. Relatives flew in from Florida. I walked in the kitchen and was hugging them hello when one of them jumped back and said "oh we're sick we probably shouldn't hug". New Year's Eve was our 20th wedding anniversary. I felt like I was going to die. Hit me like a dump truck. Throat so sore I was spitting saliva in a cup so I didn't have to swallow. All sense of taste and smell gone. Conjunctivitus --however you spell it...I call it pink eye--in both eyes so bad that closing them immediately glued them shut. I don't know how high my fever got because the thermometer was upstairs and I couldn't make it up there. Spent at least 10 nights sitting up on the couch because any reclining made it very hard to breathe. Filled up from top to bottom with gunky phlegm. I firmly believe I had Covid and it was over here a lot earlier than people thought. Had I known then about covid I would have gone to the hospital and I am not a doctor person.

I began reading here in Mid February I think. I looked back at Amazon and I placed a big order on the 27th of Feb. I remember calling my mom and having a serious conversation about how she should stock up on things. I also told a good friend the same thing and got majorly poo-pooed and ridiculed. He has since apologized. I went to the grocery store in early March and I remember being shocked by how many people were there with 2 shopping carts just dumping stuff in.

Websleuths was and still is my go-to place for all things Covid. When I start feeling like I'm the crazy one for still not going anywhere and if I do I still wear my mask, I come here and read with my like-minded people.

After a lot of thought we are not going to attend Thanksgiving with inlaws this year and probably not Christmas either. There just isn't enough room to spread apart and there are a lot of us. I feel like they are not very happy with us but I guess they will get over it.

 

[ibrahime]

covid keeps killing people.